Surge in conflicts fuels extreme poverty: World Bank

Washington: Conflicts and related fatalities have more than tripled since the early 2000s, fueling extreme poverty, the World Bank said Friday. Eco...

Washington: Conflicts and related fatalities have more than tripled since the early 2000s, fueling extreme poverty, the World Bank said Friday.

Economies in fragile and conflict-affected regions have become "the epicenter of global poverty and food insecurity, a situation increasingly shaped by the frequency and intensity of conflict," the bank added in a new study.

This year, 421 million people get by on less than $3 a day in places hit by conflict or instability -- a situation of extreme poverty -- and the number is poised to hit 435 million by 2030.

Global attention has been focused on conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East for the past three years, said World Bank Group chief economist Indermit Gill.

But "half of the countries facing conflict or instability today have been in such conditions for 15 years or more," he added.